Defined terms. For purposes hereof, and in addition to the terms defined in Article
II of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings respectively set forth below:
BELOW REGULATORY CONCERN Radioactive material in a quantity or of a level that is distinguishable from background (as that phrase is defined at 10 CFR § 20.1003), but which is below the regulation threshold established by any regulatory agency otherwise having jurisdiction over such material in the Town.
GATHERING LINE or PRODUCTION LINE Any system of pipelines (and other equipment such as drip stations, vent stations, pigging facilities, valve boxes, transfer pump station, measuring and regulating equipment, yard and station piping, and cathodic protection equipment) used to move oil, gas, or liquids from a point of production, treatment facility or storage area to a transmission line, which is exempt from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's jurisdiction under Section 1(b) of the Natural Gas Act,[2] and which does not meet the definition of a major utility transmission facility under the Public Service Law of New York, Article 7, § 120(2)(b).
HIGH-IMPACT INDUSTRIAL USES (1) Land uses which by the very nature in which they are conducted have the potential to significantly impact the environment, pose a risk to human health and safety, or disturb or interfere with reasonable community expectations regarding odors, noise, light, traffic and water quality. High-impact industrial uses include but are not limited to what are traditionally considered to be "heavy industrial uses" and specifically include but are not limited to the following land uses:
(a) Natural gas and/or petroleum exploration activities;
(b) Natural gas and/or petroleum extraction activities;
(c) Natural gas exploration, extraction, or production wastes disposal or storage facility;
(e) Land application facility;
(f) Natural gas exploration, extraction, or production wastes dump;
(g) Natural gas compression facility;
(h) Natural gas processing facility;
(k) Underground natural gas storage;
(l) Pipelines in the Designated Delaware River Corridor.
(2) For purposes of this chapter, high-impact industrial uses do not include:
(b) Any use that is specifically articulated in this chapter as allowed by right within an appropriate district as a principal permitted or accessory use; or
(c) Any use that is specifically articulated in this chapter as allowed within an appropriate district as a principal permitted or accessory use upon obtaining a special use permit.
INJECTION WELL A bored, drilled or driven shaft whose depth is greater than the largest surface dimension, or a dug hole whose depth is greater than the largest surface dimension, through which fluids (which may or may not include semisolids) are injected into the subsurface and less than 90% of such fluids return to the surface within a period of 90 days.
LAND APPLICATION FACILITY A site where any natural gas and/or petroleum extraction, exploration or production wastes are applied to the soil surface or injected into the upper layer of the soil.
NATURAL GAS Methane and any gaseous substance, either combustible or noncombustible, which is produced in a natural state from the earth and which maintains a gaseous or rarefied state at standard temperature and pressure conditions, and/or gaseous components or vapors occurring in or derived from petroleum or other hydrocarbons.
NATURAL GAS AND/OR PETROLEUM EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES Geologic or geophysical activities related to the search for natural gas, petroleum or other subsurface hydrocarbons including prospecting, geophysical and geologic seismic surveying and sampling techniques, but only to the extent that such activities involve or employ core, rotary, or any other type of drilling or otherwise making any penetration or excavation of any land or water surface in the search for and evaluation of natural gas, petroleum, or other subsurface hydrocarbon deposits. (Note: as used in this chapter, the term "natural gas and/or petroleum exploration activities" is not intended and shall not be construed to include the conduct of seismic surveys, which are separately defined at, and subject to, the provisions of Chapter
147, Seismic Surveys, of the Code of the Town of Highland.)
NATURAL GAS AND/OR PETROLEUM EXTRACTION ACTIVITIES The digging or drilling of a well for the purposes of exploring for, developing or producing natural gas, petroleum or other subsurface hydrocarbons, including without limitation any and all forms of shale fracturing related to natural gas and/or petroleum extraction activities.
NATURAL GAS AND/OR PETROLEUM EXTRACTION, EXPLORATION OR PRODUCTION WASTES (1) Any of the following in any form, and whether or not such items have been excepted or exempted from the coverage of any federal or state environmental protection laws, or have been excepted from statutory or regulatory definitions of "industrial waste," "hazardous," or "toxic," and whether or not such substances are generally characterized as waste:
(a) Below-regulatory-concern radioactive material, or any radioactive material which is not below regulatory concern, but which is in fact not being regulated by the regulatory agency otherwise having jurisdiction over such material in the Town, whether naturally occurring or otherwise, in any case relating to, arising in connection with, or produced by or incidental to the exploration for, the extraction or production of, or the processing, treatment, or transportation of, natural gas, petroleum, or any related hydrocarbons;
(b) Natural gas or petroleum drilling fluids;
(c) Natural gas or petroleum exploration, drilling, production or processing wastes;
(d) Natural gas or petroleum drilling treatment wastes (such as oils, frac fluids, produced water, brine, flowback, sediment and/or any other liquid or semiliquid material);
(e) Any chemical, waste oil, waste emulsified oil, mud, or sediment that was used or produced in the drilling, development, transportation, processing or refining of natural gas or petroleum;
(f) Soil contaminated in the drilling, transportation, processing or refining of natural gas or petroleum;
(g) Drill cuttings from natural gas or petroleum wells; or
(h) Any other wastes associated with the exploration, drilling, production or treatment of natural gas or petroleum.
(2) This definition specifically intends to include some wastes that may otherwise be classified as solid wastes which are not hazardous wastes under 40 CFR 261.4(b). The definition of natural gas and/or petroleum extraction, exploration or production wastes does not include recognizable and nonrecognizable food wastes, or waste generated by agriculture use.
NATURAL GAS AND/OR PETROLEUM EXTRACTION, EXPLORATION OR PRODUCTION WASTES DUMP Land upon which natural gas and/or petroleum extraction, exploration or production wastes, or their residue or constituents before or after treatment, are deposited, disposed, discharged, injected, placed, buried or discarded, without any intention of further use.
NATURAL GAS COMPRESSION FACILITY Those facilities or combination of facilities that move natural gas or petroleum from production fields or natural gas processing facilities in pipelines or into storage; the term shall include equipment for liquids separation, natural gas dehydration, and tanks for the storage of waste liquids and hydrocarbon liquids.
NATURAL GAS PROCESSING FACILITY Those facilities that separate and recover natural gas liquids (NGLs) and/or other nonmethane gases and liquids from a stream of produced natural gas, using equipment for any of the following: cleaning or stripping gas, cooking and dehydration, residual refinement, treating or removing oil or condensate, removing water, separating NGLs, removing sulfur or carbon dioxide, fractionation of NGLs, or the capture of CO2 separated from natural gas streams.
NONREGULATED PIPELINES Those pipelines that are exempt or otherwise excluded from regulation under federal and state laws regarding pipeline construction standards or reporting requirements. Specifically includes production lines and gathering lines.
PIPELINE All parts of those physical facilities through which petroleum, gas, hazardous liquids, or chemicals move in transportation (including pipes, valves and other equipment and appurtenances attached to pipes and other equipment such as drip stations, vent stations, pigging facilities, valve boxes, transfer pump stations, measuring and regulating equipment, yard and station piping, and cathodic protection equipment), whether or not laid in public or private easement or private right-of-way within the Town. This includes, without limitation, gathering lines, production lines, and transmission lines.
RADIATION The spontaneous emission of particles (alpha, beta, neutrons) or photons (gamma) from the nucleus of unstable atoms as a result of radioactive decay.
RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL Material in any form that emits radiation, but only if such material has been moved from its naturally occurring location through an industrial process. Such material is radioactive material for purposes hereof, whether or not it is otherwise exempt from licensing and regulatory control pursuant to the New York State Department of Labor, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Department of Transportation, or any other regulatory agency.
SUBSURFACE Below the surface of the earth, or of a body of water, as the context may require.
TRANSMISSION LINE A pipeline that transports oil, gas, or water to end users as a public utility and which is subject to regulation either by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's jurisdiction under Section 1(b) of the Natural Gas Act, or as a major utility transmission facility under the Public Service Law of New York, Article 7, § 120(2)(b).
UNDERGROUND INJECTION Subsurface emplacement of natural gas and/or petroleum extraction, exploration or production wastes by or into an injection well.
UNDERGROUND NATURAL GAS STORAGE Subsurface storage, including in depleted gas or oil reservoirs and salt caverns, of natural gas that has been transferred from its original location for the primary purpose of load balancing the production of natural gas. Includes compression and dehydration facilities, and pipelines.
WATER; WATER RESOURCES All streams, ditches, lakes, ponds, marshes, vernal pools, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, drainage systems, and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface or underground, intermittent or perennial, which are contained in, flow through or border upon the Town or any portion thereof.